From the Aspen Daily News:  In an attempt to find out who made a land-use complaint about construction that was occurring on her property in 2012, an Aspen woman is taking her quest to the Colorado Court of Appeals.

An Aspen judge in March refused to allow Elesabeth Shook to inspect records containing the name of the person, ruling that Shook wanted the identity because she “intended to retaliate against the complainant if she could.”

Judge Gail Nichols of Pitkin County District Court also found that the complaint form with the person’s name is an investigatory file compiled for a law enforcement purpose — making it exempt from the request Shook filed under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA).

The case arose when the person filed a citizen complaint form with the Pitkin County Community Development Department about a project on Shook’s property in the 1100 block of Willoughby Way. That office forwarded the complaint to the county attorney’s office and Carrington Brown, the county’s code enforcement officer.

He found that a new structure was being constructed on the property without a requisite building permit. Brown issued a stop-work order, a building permit was obtained a month or so later, and the county attorney’s office did not pursue a citation against Shook.

During his investigation, Brown also spoke with the person who made the complaint. The reporting party “expressly asked that his identity be kept confidential,” Nichols’ March ruling says.

Shook wants to see the records in order “assess the scope, nature, extent and merits of the complaint,” her attorney, Chris Bryan of Aspen, wrote in a previous court filing.

Visit the Aspen Daily News for more.